Arch support



March 8, 1932. D. D. DORAN ET AL ARCH SUPPORT Filed Feb. 4, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet March 8, 1932. D. D. DORAN ET AL 1,848,518

ARCH SUPPORT Filed Feb. 4, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 8, 1932. D. D. DORAN ET AL ARCH SUPPORT Filed Feb. 4, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 mam Am Patented Mar. 8, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DAVID D. DORAN AND GERALD D. IDORAN, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOBS OF TWO-FIFTHS TO FRED J. BROWN, OF DUIBOIS, PENNSYLVANIA Anon surronr Application filed February 4, 1931. Serial No. 513,450.

This invention relates to arch supports for shoes, boots and the like, for men, women and children, and more particularly to a device of this character adapted to be placed in operative position while the shoe is being fabricated at the factory.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision of a device of this nature which is adapted to the anatomical formation of anormal human foot, in the production of a support strong enough to adequately withstand the strains and stresses to be later imposed upon it, and provided with certain portions having degrees of inherent flexibility so distributed that each individual member of the various foot arches may freely flex and relax in a natural manner, whereby each of the various units making up the foot structure may receive that exercise required by its individual formation and particular requirements, so that the original lines of the normal foot may be preserved, or slightly distorted feet may ultimately be returned to proper form.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an arch support which may be produced at a negligible cost, and which will be extremely simple in formation, light in weight, and flexible longitudinally as well as transversely.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of an article of the class described which may easily be placed in operative position by an unskilled mechanic.

Other objects of the invention will be made apparent in the following specifications when read in connection with the drawings forming a part thereof.

In said drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a shoe required with the device forming the subject matter of our invention, the outer and inner soles of the shoe being separated to permit a clearer illustration.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the arch support.

Fig. 3 is a side elevationshowing a shoe equipped with my invention, a portion of the shoe being shown broken away, to permit a clearer view of the support applied in operative position.

Fig. 4 is a sectionv taken on the line {14 of Fig. 9.

Fig. 5is a section taken on line 55 of Fig. 9.

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 66 of F i 9.

Fig. 7 is a section taken on line 77 of Fig. 9 I Fig. 8 is a section taken on line 88 of Fig. 9.

gig. 9 is a vertical plan view of the device, an

F ig; 10 is a vertical plan view showing a skeleton foot in a shoe, the arch support being indicated, in dotted lines, in operative position.

In the development of our invention particular attention has been given to the necessity of maintaining the normal working condition of the various bones, joints and ligaments of the human foot, whereby to ensure an arch support having such formation and structure that those portions of the foot needing maximum support will receive it, and the other individual units of the foot, or those requiring less or minimum support, yet need bracing of some character which Will not interfere with natural flexing and relaxation and will be so supported as to take care of the particular requirements.

In determining the proper shape and proportions of our arch support, we have been guided; first by the bony structure of the metatarsal arch of a normal human foot, in which there are of course five metatarsal bones graduated in size from the largest, represented by the numeral 1, Fig. 10, the numerals 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively indicating the individual smaller bones of the metatarsal arch.

The anterior metatarsal arch of the human foot, or that section of the foot taken transversely of the ball, needs flexible support When encased in a shoe, and we have provided in our device, as illustrated in theseveral fi ures of the drawings, a resilient metallic plate or support 6, best shown in Fi s. 4 and 9. The support 6, as indicated, is a apted to be mounted as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, between the outer shoe sole 7 and the inner sole 8 of the shoe. It is provided with a main body portion 9, formed-on an irregular curve at its front edge, which also carries an integrallyformed reinforcing bead 10, to prevent cutting the outer sole, and having integrallyprojecting spurs 10 adapted to be forced into the material of an inner sole whereby to retain the support in operative position, the front edge 10 of the support being so located as to extend to a point just under and adjacent the rearward end of the anterior metatarsal heads.

Extending rearwardly from the body por tion 9 of the support when in position, are five resilient fingers or tines 11, 12, 13, 14 and '15 which respectively project longitudinally under and in parallelism with the bones 1 to 5 inclusive, constituting the metatarsal arch of the foot. The tines lie in substantial parallelism each to each and taper downwardly from the body portion, being separated each from each by a slot extending longitudinally of the support, and of a width sufficlent to permit either independent or concerted action, whereby to permit individual tine flexure. In addition thereto they curve upwardly towards the ends thereof and, with the body portion 9, are convexed in cross-section, as-illustrated in Figs. 4 to 8 inclusive so asto conform to the contours of the metatarsal and tarsal arches.

From the foregoing it will be clear that with our support in operative position, as illustrated and described, all the bones forming the anterior metatarsal arch, the tarsal arch, and the plantar arch, are resiliently supported, either by one of the tines 11 to 15, or by the body portion 9, so that the 1ndividual operative members of the support may take up and transmit a proportionate share of the strains and stresses imposed upon the components of the plantar arch throughout its entire length. It is also to be observed that the tines are of slightly diminishing width, and consequently of diminishing rigidity from left to right, when applied as a support for the right foot. In other words, as shown in Fig. 9, tine 11,

, adapted to extend under the bone 1 of the large toe, is slightly more rigid thantine 12 which is operatively positioned under bone 2, tine 15 properly being the most resilient of the tines since it extends under bone 5-leading to the small toe of the foot.

The specific embodiments of the invention herein disclosed are of a type ada ted to be built in the shoe at the factory. t is obvious that certain features of our arch support may readily be used in loose or detachable supports which are to be placed in a shoe.

In building the support into the shoes, the lnner sole is excavated between the sewn portions on each side to provide a recess shaped to fit the device, the latter being placed in said recess and the spurs 10, 10' forced into portion of the plantar arch greater than is supported by practically all other devices intended for a similar purpose. This permits the fabrication of a shoe with a shank sufficiently strong to support the Weight im-,

posed upon it and also the retention of the necessary degree of flexibility, a very desirable quality and a great improvement over the rigid shanks so generally built in shoes.

Modifications of the invention herein disclosed may be suggested to those skilled in the art, but our invention covers all embodiments falling'fairly within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim 1. An arch support comprising a body portion which is convexed on its upper face and integrally provided with a plurality of resilient tines each adapted, when in operative position, to extend rearwardly under a metatarsal bone of the normal human foot.

2. An arch support comprising a body portion which is upwardly arched in cross-section and provided with means for connection to a sole of a shoe, and a plurality of rear- WardIy eXtending resilient tines secured to said body portion, each tine, when in operative position being located directly below a metatarsal bone of the normal human foot.

3. An arch support comprising a body portion adapted to be secured to a sole of a shoe beneath the ball portion thereof, and a plurality of rearwardly extending resilient tines carried by the body portion, each tine being operatively positionedto extend longitudiinally under a metatarsal bone of the normal human foot.

4. An arch support comprising a body portion adapted to be operatively secured to a .sole of a shoe, and provided with a plurality of resilient tines extending rearwardly from said body portion and below the cavity of the metatarsal arch of the foot, each of said tines, when in operative position, being located directly below a metatarsal bone of the normal human foot.

5. An archsupport comprising a body portion of resilient material and curved cross section adapted to be operatively secured to a sole of a shoe at the front of the concavity of the metatarsal arch, said body portion bemg provided with a plurality of resilient therefore is adapted to directly support a tines, each of which, in operative position, is located directly below a metatarsal bone of the normal human foot.

6. An arch support comprising a body portion adapted to be secured to a sole of a shoe at the front of the instep zone thereof, and

a plurality of resilient tines carried by said body portion and extending rearwardly under the instep, whereby to permit flexure and rearward sliding movement of the tines when plfessure is placed upon the instep zone of the s oe.

7. An arch support for the purposes described, comprising a body portion of thin, resilient material adapted to be secured to the sole of a shoe and being integrally provided with a plurality of resilient tines extending rearwardly and longitudinally of the sole and throu h the instep zone thereof, each tine being so ocated as to lie directly under. a metatarsal bone of the foot.

8. An arch support for the purposes described, comprising a body portion adapted to be secured to the sole of a shoe and being integrally providedwith a plurality of rearwardly-extending, resilient tines of increasing resistance, from the outer side of the shoe to the inner side, each of said tines being operatively positioned to underlie a metatarsal bone of the normal human foot.

9. An arch support having a body portion adapted to be secured to a shoe sole near the ball of the foot, and five parallel, resilient, rearwardly-extending tines connected to said body portion, each tine being adapted to underlie and support a metatarsal bone of the normal human foot.

10. An arch support having a body portion adapted to be secured to a shoe sole near the ball of the foot, and five parallel, resilient, rearwardly-extending-tines connected to said body portion, each tine being adapted to underlieand support a metatarsal bone of the normal human foot, the bending resistance of the several tines gradually decreasing from maximum, at the inside of the shoe, to minimum at the outside of the shoe.

11. Anarch support having a body portion adapted to be secured to a shoe sole to underlie the instep zone thereof, said portion being provided with integrally-formed tines extending towards the heel portion of the shoe and adapted for sliding movement along said sole, under downward pressure applied at said zone. 0

12. An arch support having a body portion adapted to be secured to a shoe sole in front of the heel thereof, and a plurality of parallel, resilient tines connected to said body portionand extending towards the heel, the bending resistance of each tine being greater than that of the tine adjacent thereto and nearer the outside of the foot.

13. An arch support having a body portion adapted to be secured to a shoe solo in front of the heel thereof, and a plurality of resilient tines connected to said body portion and extending towards the heel, each tine being adapted to underlie one of the metatarsal bones of the human foot, and being possessed of a bending resistance which is in consonance with the normal pressure likely to be imposed thereupon by the bone which it supports, when foot pressure is applied to the sole of the shoe.

l4. An arch support having a body portion adapted to be secured to a shoe sole in front of the heel thereof, and five resilient tines connected to said body portion and extending towards the heel, each tine being adapted to underlie one of the metatarsal bones of the human foot, and being possessed of a bending resistance which is in consonance with the normal pressure likely to be imposed thereupon by the bone which it supports, when foot pressure is applied to the sole of the shoe.

In testimony whereof we hereunto affix our signatures.

DAVID D. DOB-AN. GERALD D. DORAN. 

